De se interpretation and vp ellipsis

Research output: Contribution to journalArticle


This paper argues for a reanalysis of one of Fiengo and May's eliminative puzzles of ellipsis. Rather than take their judgments at face value, the judgments themselves are re-evaluated and the missing reading is found to be possible in certain discourse contexts. Additionally, the missing reading is shown to be possible in examples in which certain of the pronouns cannot be given a de se interpretation. After setting out a comprehensive paradigm of examples controlling for de se interpretation, I show how this paradigm follows from analyses of pronominal anaphora developed in Tancredi (1997, 2000).

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)308-334
Number of pages27
JournalEnglish Linguistics
Issue number2
Publication statusPublished - 2002 Jan 1
Externally publishedYes



  • anaphora
  • de se interpretation
  • eliminative puzzles
  • VP ellipsis

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Language and Linguistics
  • Linguistics and Language

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